A New Chapter for SA Literature

22 Jun 2015

PEN SA Executive Vice-President Mandla Langa has written an article calling for a national writers’ conference to come up with a better model for the South African literary industry. Published in the Sunday Times yesterday, the article was written in response to the recent debate sparked by PEN SA member Thando Mgqolozana about the South African literary system.

“At the risk of determining policy on the hoof, organisations such as PEN South Africa should pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Mgqolozana and many, many voices out there and call for a countrywide writers’ conference.

Even though it would not be a panacea for all evils — evils, for instance, such as the nonavailability and rapid remaindering of titles by black authors — it would get the writing community doing what it does best, thinking and strategising and finding solutions to problems. It would be a conference that confronted the question of booksellers and their penchant for presenting South Africa literature as an afterthought or a poor cousin of US or European offerings.”

About Us

PEN South Africa, founded in 1927, is one of more than 140 Centres of PEN International, which currently operate in over 100 countries. A worldwide, politically non-aligned organisation of writers, PEN International is dedicated to promoting freedom of expression, and encouraging the growth and strengthening of literature. Its foundational text is the PEN Charter, which all Centres and members of PEN must uphold.